Acceptance
by Mystrothedefender
Summary: Edward struggles to find a place where he feels safe. (context for an rp but also I prett
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, hope you enjoy this little thing.**

The boy sobbed, slowly stopping at the end of the road, simply unable to keep running, his legs burned with agony, the cut on his chest had stopped bleeding now at least.

He couldn't go back there, he simply couldn't, he couldn't face another day there, with people who didn't understand him, who outright _rejected_ him…

If he was forced to go through another day of that torture he would die, there was no doubt in his mind, by his own hand or that of his father, he was sure he wouldn't last past Friday. He didn't want to die but there was no way he could live there.

But where did he have to go?

He, whose friends had abandoned him since he came out, who didn't have many friends to begin with. Whose family despised him. Where did he have to go?

He couldn't go to the homeless shelter, he knew his dad would look there for him. He could go to the abused women's centre but he knew how they'd react to him, he'd heard stories about how they treated people like him.

He found himself walking down an alleyway, he didn't know where he was going but he tried to keep walking. He had to get as far away from that place, that _man_ as he could. His life depended on it.

He felt the cold fall on him as the sun set, he had no idea where he was now, after hours of walking. If he didn't know where he was there was almost no chance of his dad finding him.

Now he needed a place to stay, to escape the cold at least.

Could he knock on a random door? Was that allowed? Was that wise?

He wasn't sure if this was a bad part of town or not, he didn't want to be greeted by a gun.

But saying that he didn't want to freeze to death.

He picked out a nice looking house, standing on the doorstep and readying himself to ring the bell.

He'd never felt so helpless, so useless, he'd come to replying on strangers for help. He couldn't believe it.

He's always been wary of new people, he'd always felt so strange amongst new people, like something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He retracted his hand, looking down at the floor. He couldn't do this, he couldn't push himself onto other people, strangers, he couldn't become a burden like that.

Their doorstep would be good enough he guessed, it was sheltered from the wind and cold, he could wrap himself in the blanket he'd brought and quite happily sleep here.

So that was what he did, pulled the blanket out of his school backpack and wrapped himself in it, using his bag as a pillow.

If they noticed him and invited him inside, then he'd go in, if they turned him away then fine, but he wouldn't push himself on them. He had to be strong, for once in his life.

This was him, being strong, falling asleep on some random guy's porch with no idea what he was going to do tomorrow, where he was going to go, what he would eat.

He should have brought food with him, the thought hadn't entered his mind, he'd wanted to get out of there as quick as possible, he'd not thought of anything, he'd just grabbed what he could.

He felt like such an idiot.

He forced himself to ignore the feeling, ignore the cold, ignore the pain he was in. He couldn't deal with it, he needed to sleep, he could worry about it in the morning.

"Val?" a voice cut into his uneasy sleep, he gasped slightly, forcing his eyes open. "Val what are you doing here?"

The voice was familiar, he looked around as he blinked himself awake, his eyes eventually focussing on the large man looming over him, "Wh-what?" he asked, disorientated.

"You're asleep on my porch," the man pointed out, "I'd kind of like to know why."

"…Harvey?" he said, fixing his glasses as everything came into focus, "O-Oh," he stuttered, pulling himself quickly to his feet, looking up into the yes of his college student union's president, "I… got in a fight with my dad, he's kicked me out. Sorry…" he said, glancing towards the house, "I didn't know you lived here."

Harvey smiled, "Student housing." He huffed softly, "Would you like a cup of coffe or something, Valerie? You look freezing."

He let out a short breath, "It's not Valerie," he stated flatly, knowing the sentence might be what got him turned away, "It's Edward."

Harvey frowned, "Oh, of course, _Edward_, sorry." He smiled and opened the door, "Do you want a coffee?"

He smiled softly and grabbed his bag and folded his blanket, nodding gently, "Uh, yeah, please."


	2. Chapter 2

**Written especially for Horsemenhdfj**

Edward looked around as Harvey led him into the house, he'd never been in a student house before, his dads was rather close to his college, so he'd not even bothered to look at them. Things at home had always been bad, but since he came out he'd been scared to so much as leave his room while his father was home.

He was just... so disrespectful, and violent, he could barely stand it.

His father had been physically abusive before, but he'd never cut him, never left a wound this bad.

"So what happened," Harvey asked as they walked into the kitchen, his eyes fixed on the small spot of blood on Edward's collarbone that stretched down underneath his loosened binder.

Edward shrugged, lifting his arms to cross them over his chest, trying to hide the extent of the damage, "Oh, me and my dad got in a fight, that's all."

"That's abuse you know..?" Harvey said, still frowning, "You could get him put away for doing that."

Edward bit his lip and shook his head, "I couldn't..."

The other man frowned, letting out a small huff and pouring Edward a coffee.

"He is your dad, I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to go though that."

Edward took the coffee and took a sip, groaning softly and closing his eyes. He'd never thought coffee could taste so good. He smiled softly, watching Harvey for a moment.

Why would a man like that pay him any attention?

He was the head of the school student union, head of his class, leader of countless charity projects.

An icy stab shot through Edwards gut.

Was this charity?

Was he a charity case?

Sure he'd been in bad situations before but he'd never had anyone act like this towards him. Was he acting with pity? Edward hadn't even considered this.

"Could I use your bathroom?" Edward asked, "I'd kind of like to clean this up," he gestured to the wound on his chest.

Harvey nodded, "Sure," he reached behind him, pulling a small box from one of the kitchen cupboards, and thrusting it towards Edward, "Here, you might want to use this."

Edward looked down at the first aid kit and frowned weakly, "Thanks," he said briskly as he walked to the bathroom, locking the door and quickly taking off his shirt and binder, looking down at and beginning to clean the cut that stretched down his breast.

It was worse than he thought it had been, he'd not realised before now just how much it hurt, the pain had been numbed by either adrenalin or the cold.

He'd been so angry…

His dad had been yelling at him, as he so often did, but Edward had had enough, he wasn't sure why, but the mention of his _girl_ name had just made him snap, and he'd yelled back, screamed at him. And that was when his dad had picked up a knife. He didn't remember much after that other than his father screaming incessantly that he was a girl and should act like one 'stop all this attention seeking bullshit'.

The next thing he knew he was running down the road.

He jumped and gasped as he heard someone try the door. "Harv, come on… Damn it I need to piss!"

He swallowed hard, preparing himself to shout back, but Harvey beat him to it, "That's not me Bruce, we have a guest."

The man behind the door, who Edward guessed was Bruce Wayne, stilled, letting out a low groan, "Sorry," he shouted through the door.

"It's ok," Edward replied, hurrying himself to clean the cut on his chest and bandage it, putting his binder back on and replacing his shirt.

He tried to be quiet as he left the room, chewing his lip, he'd never met Bruce Wayne in person, he wasn't sure if he was the accepting kind, he was from a rich family, that fact alone did not fill him with hope.

He walked into the kitchen, his eyes low, seeing four sets of feet rather than the previous two.

"It's uh, Edward Nigma right?" Bruce said calmly, smiling softly, extending a hand to pat his arm.

Edward nodded, "Yeah," he looked up, forcing a smile.

"You got in a fight with your dad again?" Bruce asked, how he was able to tell this Edward had no idea.

"…Yeah," Edward repeated.

Bruce smiled, "Well you can stay here as long as you need to."

Edward shook his head, "No, it's ok, I'll just… steal some of your food, have a shower and then be on my way, I'm fine."

The two other men frowned softly, "Edward," Harvey started, "We can't just let you go, you've got nowhere to go, you slept on our fucking porch last night."

Edward looked to the floor again, swallowing hard, he couldn't defend that, but he didn't want to depend on them, he was a smart man, he could do this on his own, he didn't need help like that.

"You're not arguing with us on this. You're staying with us. You'll sleep on the couch and eat our leftovers, but you're staying here."

Edward let out a soft exhale, looking back up at them, "…Fine," he said bitterly, feeling a weight suddenly lift from him, "…Thank you…"


End file.
